Co-developed with the all-new Corvette Z06, Chevrolet has today unveiled the
Corvette C7.R race car. It will make its racing debut on January 25 at Daytona.
The new Corvette Z06 and C7.R represent the closest link in modern times between
Corvettes built for racing and the road, sharing unprecedented levels of
engineering and components including chassis architecture, engine technologies
and aerodynamic strategies.
"When it comes to endurance racing, Corvette has been the benchmark of success
for nearly 15 years," said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president, Performance
Vehicles and Motorsports. "A great deal of the team's success can be attributed
to the symbiotic relationship between Corvette Racing and the production
vehicles. The 2015 Corvette Z06 and new C7.R will be more competitive on the
street and track due to successful design of the Corvette Stingray - which
itself is heavily based on the C6.R race car."
Corvette Racing will field two C7.R race cars in 2014, starting later this month
at the 52nd Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25-26. The race kicks off the TUDOR
United SportsCar Championship - a new series debuting this year after the merger
of the American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. The C7.R
will compete in the GT Le Mans class in 11 races around North America.
The team is also is expected to compete in June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - a
race Chevrolet and Corvette Racing have won seven times - in the GTE Pro class.
Since the team's competitive debut in 1999 with the Corvette C5-R, Corvette
Racing has earned unmatched success. The C5-R and C6.R led Chevrolet to 90
victories around the world and 10 manufacturer championships in the American Le
Mans Series. In 2013, Corvette Racing won five races and swept the manufacturer,
team and driver championships in the GT class for a second consecutive season.
A key part of the team's success is the technology transfer between Corvette
production cars and race cars.
"Corvette Racing sets the gold standard for technology transfer between the
track and street," said Tadge Juechter, Corvette chief engineer. "We are
continually taking what we learn in competition, and applying it to improve
production Corvettes - which then make better race cars. As a result, the new
Corvette Z06 is the most track-capable production Corvette ever while the new
C7.R is poised to be even more competitive on the race circuit."
